Forced Evolution
by shattered-religion
Summary: Two months after the battle between Holy and Meteor, a discovery is made in Midgar. One that may have a disturbing effect on the future of the Planet. Rated R. Mainly due to Cid, at this point in time.
1. The Dreaded Prologue

Disclaimer: I own nothing even remotely associated with SquareSoft, excluding copies of several Final Fantasy games. The sad thing is, of course, that if I had not stated this, then there would have been a possibility of them owning my ass sooner or later. Feh, lawyers and copyrights. On a positive note, anything included in this story that does not have the following symbols already attached to them are the intellectual property of…well… me, myself, and I. Here they are: ®, ©, and TM . Are you happy now?! … Oh, yeah. By the by, this disclaimer is for the whole story. If I ever finish it, that is…. 

Forced Evolution:

Prologue

Digging up the dead is an exhausting form of labor, both physically and mentally. The burden the living place upon themselves for the recovery of the departed, the sorrow that permeates the atmosphere as a new body is discovered, and the respect unconditionally given to every cadaver, is perhaps one of the strangest life affirming experiences one can witness. For you see, every newly found corpse is synonymous with the turning of a page, bringing another disturbing chapter of mankind's history to a close, thus allowing a new one to be written.

Two months after the destruction of Meteor, as summer moves into fall, the cool pre dawn winds howl through the rubble of the plate that still hangs over Sector Four, cooling the overheated bodies of the men and women that compromise one half of the current work force on the third shift.

Nanaki, or Red XIII, as he was once known in darker times, does not notice this, thanks to his thick fur coat. Instead, he sniffs the air; once, twice, and a third time, following his nose inside a partially collapsed building. Following him is a team of workers, four men, one woman, and his assistant; a fifteen year old boy that came with his father to help in the effort, but soon found that he did not have the strong stomach required for dealing with decomposing bodies.

"Here," Nanaki states, coming to a halt before a large pile of ruble, his nose twitching slightly. "It seems there may be as many as ten here, I cannot tell." He scratches his nose quickly with the rough pads of his right paw before looking over to the group behind him. "I wish I could tell you more, but I believe I may very well have over worked myself entering this building. As always, if you cannot finish before we leave, do not worry, I will tell the next shift about this area."

" 'Kay boss," The leader of the small group nods. "I'll holler at ya 'for we leave, then."

Nanaki grins at the group, something they have become accustomed to; just as they have his ability to talk, and turns back, nudging his young assistant to signal that they are done for the moment.

"Is your nose really that messed up?" The young man, Jeremy, asked as they exited the building.

"There is nothing wrong with it, if that is what you mean," Nanaki replied. " The individual smells of each person fade with decomposition, however, and that makes it a bit harder to distinguish the number there may be; especially in such a closed in area."

"Oh, okay. just wondering." The boy sighed, looking over towards his father, who seemed to be taking a break with the rest of his group.

"Jeremy," Nanaki says, " if you wish to see your father while he is not busy, you may."

The boy flashed a smile in gratitude before running to his father, who quickly folded an arm over Jeremy's shoulders, lightly punched him on the jaw, and smiled down at his progeny.

Watching the scene from the corner of his good eye, Nanaki frowned slightly. Though not jealous of Jeremy and his father, the scene reminds him of all the things his mother's death, his father's petrifaction, and now his grandpa's death has deprive him of. He is after all, still a teenager, no matter how he acts in front of others. Oh, Holy, how he misses them….

"Hey, Boss! We found somethin' weird over here!" 

He looked over in the direction of the voice to find the leader of the group he had just left fifteen minutes ago, running towards him, arms waving, with the others trailing behind him. "What, what is it?"

"There's some sort o' passage under alla 'at rubble in that place! An' by the looks a' it, there are way more than ten bodies in it…." The man exhaled loudly, stopping short to catch his breath.

Nanaki studied the man and his followers for a second. Ghostly pale, their eyes widened in shock, not to mention the scent on fear emanating from the small group forced him to take them seriously, despite the fact that they were one of the only plates still held by the support structure. 

"Look, I used to live here an' I know there was no way there could be a basement in one a' the plates bu-"

"Stop. I believe you." Nanaki interrupted. " Jeremy, come here!"

The young boy returned to his side quickly, apparently having heard the man's initial calls. "Um, Sir?"

"Help me call the others."


	2. Hard Day's Night

Forced Evolution:

Hard Day's Night 

A dust cloud had settled on the far side of the Sector Four plate; a dense fog of minute debris and chemical discharge that blocked the artificial light of the industrial spotlights posted atop the buildings left standing in the wake the battle between Meteor and Holy. The air was acidic in taste, and thick with dust; making breathing a dangerous prospect an the moment. 

"Who the fuck set off that charge?" A voice called in the aftermath, small and tinny to even those in close proximity to the one it had originated from.

Vincent did not answer, instead he looked over at the speaker with seeming disinterest, and waited for the coughing fit to begin. He was rewarded instantly, the sounds of protesting lungs forcing polluted air out violently was soon heard, accompanied by the wet, visceral sounds of retching. Somewhat taken aback by the increasing violence of the natural reaction he was witnessing at the moment, he assisted the figure beside him by covering the person's mouth and nose with his cloak, using his human hand to secure the edges.

Lazy and calm, the winds slowly carried their burden to the west, revealing once again the damaged buildings, and light from the spotlights posted to their exteriors slowly began to seep through, allowing shadows to run rampant. The figure beside him leaned on Vincent slightly, and he jumped inwardly, still unused to physical contact. He looked down at the tri colored head on his shoulder and fought the internal urge to move away.

"Sorry," the person coughed as they tried to straighten." I got knocked through the loop there." 

He nodded curtly and took this as an invitation to move away, taking a step back, careful not to upset the other's balance.

"Karae! Vincent! We've got wounded!" A shadow called in the distance.

Karae coughed again, though nowhere near as violently as before, and waved him off with one hand, the other over her mouth. 

Taking his cue Vincent made his way towards the distant voice.

------

"Is it set to the correct channel, Jeremy?"

The teen shrugged. "It was an minute ago."

Nanaki's fire tipped tail swung briskly in agitation. He suppressed the urge to growl as Jeremy reentered the com code once more, pressed the send button, and lowered it to Nanaki's face again.

This time, the responding PHS was finally picked up, and Nanaki gave the party at the other end no time before launching into his message. "Vincent, there's been-"

"I've got the rights today." a female alto informed him calmly.

"Karae, there's been a discovery in our area. One of my groups claim they have found some form of a basement below one of the buildings." 

A derogatory snort on the other end was his response, followed by coughing and a rather loud clearing of the throat. " Your men prob'ly found a maintenance tunnel for the subway tracks, Nanaki. There's no way there could be a significant amount of empty space in the plates; the whole thing would collapse." 

"Nevertheless, I think we should check it out, if only to allay their fears." He argued.

There was a long pause on the other end.

"Karae?"

"Give us a while; we've got wounded here." 

Nanaki paused for a second, letting that sink in. This was a new occurrence for the Vincent and Karae's team, they both ran too tight of an operation for that. "What happened?"

" Someone fired an unplanned charge." 

Translation: One of the more cocky bastards in the group had decided to play with the dynamite used to break up the heavy deposits of materia that Holy had created; and didn't have the foresight to tell anyone before hand. 

Before Nanaki could formulate a response, Karae terminated the call.

-------

Even without his enhanced eyesight, Vincent would have found the man that had called for assistance-- and subsequently the sight of the accident-- simply by following his nose. 

Though the most of the dust cloud had been carried off by the wind, the scent of smoke and chemicals still remained heavy in the air, growing progressively stronger as he neared. The man that had called for assistance now followed behind Vincent, apparently realizing that he could find it on his own. 

"Where's Karae?" The man asked, seemingly concerned.

Vincent didn't answer at first, he knew the man's name and position --Risadal, Thomas; an explosives technician-- but that was it. The very reason that Karae was his co-leader in the field was, after all, due to the fact that he didn't care to get to know the men and women that worked with him. He was here to continue his penance, not to make friends or engage in small talk. "…..She is resting at the moment."

Thomas frowned. "Why? She hurt? Do I need to go back?" He turned back quickly and may have even took off if Vincent had not halted him with his words.

"She will be fine."

His frown deepened even further. "Yeah, well, I think I'll go check on her."

'And then, there was one,' Vincent thought as he rounded a corner, Thomas' footsteps slapping on the pavement as he ran.

There was still dust here; it intermingled with the smoke and chemical fumes, though it was nowhere near as dense as it had been following the explosion. It tickled Vincent's nose as he breathed, and in the distance he could hear others coughing and sneezing sporadically. The night seemed to be growing darker also, he noticed. Casting his eyes towards the high building, he spotted several spotlights that had been damaged, the protective glass that covered the bulbs shattered. Slivers of small glass tinkled down the side of the buildings, creating strange melodies as they fell towards the bodies of the injured.

A/N: Feedback is nice. It's very nice actually. Wonderful, even. Constructive criticism is highly appreciated. Flames are laughed at and shared with friends over coffee and biscotti at the university library, then summarily dismissed. Can't you feel the love? 

A/N/N: Karae's an original character a friend created. I'm using her to balance out the male:female ratio amoung Avalanche. It's also nice to have a character that doesn't really have a set personality; it gives me something I can play around with. Special Note To Mel: Thanks for handing your creation over to me, but for the last time: No, I will not hook her up with Vincent; I don't care how much you whine. Give me a logical explanation and then I might consider it…. Just.. don't hold me to it, okay? J 


	3. Deep Conversations

Forced Evolution: 

Deep Conversations 

"What the fuck are we waitin' for? Let's check out this fuckin' hole in the wall already!"

"Shut up, Cid! Gawd." Yuffie was not having a good day. Called away from her nice, warm tent to explore some stupid tunnel before the sun was even peeking it's head over the horizon was not how she normally started the day. Recently, she had begun her day at noon, rising with the rest of the second shifters, as opposed to the customary Avalanche wake up time of seven. Seven o'clock, of course, she may have been able to deal with. But not this early, not five thirty; waking up this early was for the poor white collar slobs that used to work for Shinra, not her. But maybe she could still get some sleep; those tarps over by the wall looked like they'd be warm…..

"Knock it off, guys." Cloud ordered, intently studying the lazy movements of the smoke and dust clouds from the far end of the plate as they slowly made their way south.

Tifa watched also, but only as a distraction. It had been almost an hour since Red-- she still thought of Nanaki as Red; all of Avalanche did, they were all unable to break this habit-- had called Vincent and Karae, and she was starting to worry. "Maybe one of us should call them. They're taking so long to get here…"

"Nah," Cloud smiled, looking at Tifa out of the corner of his eye. "Don't worry, Tif. They'll be here soon."

"How do you know that?"

Cloud's smile deepened. " 'Cause I just got a shiver down my spine. Only time that happens is when Vincent's around."

Frowning, Tifa punched him lightly on the shoulder. "That's a terrible thing to say!"

Cloud nodded in acknowledgement, his smile gone, and gave his trademark shrug. 

"Wake up, brat."

" Mmmm…no.. just five more minutes…daddy…"

"I ain't you're fuckin' 'daddy'. Wake up!"

"Cid!" Cloud turned sharply and almost cracked at the sight of the soundly sleeping Yuffie, bundled up in bright neon green and blue tarpaulins. "Leave her alone, okay." He admonished, chuckling slightly. 

Cid snorted derogatorily and lit a cigarette from his seemingly inexhaustible supply. "Shit. Why does the brat get t' sleep? I go to bed at two in the goddamn morning' too, ya know." 

Cloud shrugged again, declining a verbal answer.

"Maybe we should send all these people back. Vincent's team is going to be behind schedule as it is." Tifa commented, trying to steer the conversation back to the current situation.

"Aw, boo-fuckin'-hoo." Cid scoffed. "Vinnie's team's gonna be behind schedule." He added mockingly in a disturbingly high falsetto. 

"Cid!" Both Tifa and Cloud shouted. "Shut up!"

"That might be a good idea, though," Cloud mused. "Vincent's probably already sent the workers that weren't injured back to their barracks and--"

"You mean Karae." Tifa pointed out.

"Yeah, same thing, though. Any way, their people are probably done for the day, might as well let these guys rest too."

Tifa nodded her head in agreement.

Cloud smiled evilly at her, before looking over his shoulder. "Hey, Cid. Can you go tell everyone that they can leave for the day?"

"Oh, fuck, no!"

----- 

"You know, I was beginning to worry." Nanaki stated as Vincent and Karae arrived, stopping before him. 

They looked terrible. Well, Vincent did, anyways. Covered from head to toe in grayish brown dust, and smelling like smoke, Vincent was somewhat comparable to a character from an old black and white film. His eyes were redder than usual, almost bloodshot from the irritation, the only color visible on him thanks to the thick layers of dust. Karae's eye were also irritated, but the effect was not as sinister on her as Vincent; though the contrast between her pale blue gay irises and the pink surrounding them was much more noticeable. She was also much cleaner, only her dark auburn hair complete with bleached blonde and dyed black highlights were coated with the ashy substance, a condition that she was now working to remedy.

"Sorry," she apologized, brushing her hand through her uneven locks, each completion creating it's own miniature dust cloud, "we had to send everyone to home base once the injured were taken to the doc's office."

"I understand." Nanaki said, watching her with a strange look in his eyes as she suddenly gave up on brushing the dust from her hair and proceeded to shake her head like a wet dog, the motion creating an even larger cloud than the one before it.

Nanaki and Vincent both sneezed violently as the dust assaulted their nostrils.

"Ooops." Karae gave a nervous chuckle, looking between the two sets of eyes on her; one amused, the other reproachful. "Well, I guess we better get going, huh?"

Nanaki grinned, and began walking toward where he had left the others. "Yes, I believe we should." 

Vincent just stood there, staring down at his female counterpart accusingly.

"Don't look at me like that. At least I don't look like a giant dust bunny, unlike a certain someone I could mention." She declared sulkily, slapping his cape accusingly, only to sneeze as the resulting cloud of dust floated into her face.

Underneath the cape, Vincent smiled as he turned and followed Nanaki through the decimated streets.

-------

"See, Tifa. There they are." Cloud said, dragging Tifa away from her fretting.

Tifa looked in the direction that Cloud indicated and laughed. "What is she doing?"

Cloud shook his head, grinning. "No idea."

Three blocks down the wrecked streets of the upper plate, something of an argument seemed to be playing out. Behind a very amused Nanaki, Karae was circling a remarkably gray Vincent, swatting at his clothes.

"Either she's trying to clean him up," Cloud surmised, grin widening, "or we're being treated to some form of Kabuki theatre."

Karae halted in front of Vincent suddenly, forcing him to stop and Nanaki to turn around. After a short, dramatic conversation on Karae's part, Vincent suddenly shook his head quickly for several seconds, dust flying into the air. Seemingly satisfied with the results, Karae handed something to him, and watched as he cleaned his face off before turning around, and running towards the group, leaving Nanaki and Vincent in her wake. 

"Hey," Cloud called as she approached, his best straight face glued on tightly. "What was that about?"

Karae huffed in both breathlessness and annoyance, looked back at the now presentable Vincent and laughed. "Stupid, huh."

"Naw," Cid grinned around the ever present cigarette in his mouth. " Just funny as hell. Do you have that guy pussy-whipped or what?"

"Cid!" Tifa admonished.

Yuffie, still asleep, shifted among the tarpaulins. "Pussy willows….swaying in the breeze…" 

Laughter erupted among the four gathered, causing those still laboring for the dead to turn and stare.

"N…no, Cid, Vincent isn't pussy-whipped. That was just… a revenge thing, I guess." Karae finally got out through deep breaths. " Man, I… I think life and death situations make me hyper or something…. Ah, my head…. It hurts." 

"It is a rather strange response," Nanaki stated as he joined the group, sitting beside Cloud. "However, people have been known to do stranger things after long periods of stress. Barret seemed to enjoy dressing up in a sailor's uniform, if I recall correctly." 

"Heh. Can't wait to meet that guy. Thanks, Nanaki." Karae said, watching a her shadow change slowly, almost looking as though it was growing another head. "Oh, hey, Vincent." She turned around and looked up slightly to meet a pair of annoyed crimson eyes. "You look nice today."

Vincent sighed through his nose quietly and shifted to look at Cloud. "…. Well?"

"Huh? Well wha-" Cloud sobered suddenly, having remembered what they had gathered for. "Yeah, the tunnel, right." He thought for a moment, gathering his bearings. "Okay. Cid, wake up Yuffie--"

"Finally! Been waitin' long enough." Cid muttered, making his way towards the sleeping teenager.

"And we'll go down to check the place out. Not you, though," Cloud said motioning towards Karae. " I need you to gather up all the people still working and send them back to the base." He raised his voice, trying to be heard over Yuffie, who now awakened, was taking part in a screaming match with Cid. "You have a PHS, right?" 

"Get off of me, ya old geezer!"

"Shut the fuck up, brat!" 

"I will when you get off me!"

"Yeah, I got one, but Vincent doesn't!" Karae responded, almost yelling to be heard.

"That's fi--" Cloud stopped abruptly and turned to the bickering pair of Cid and Yuffie. "Will you two knock it off?"

Silence emanated from the tarp.

Cloud turned his back to the now well behaved pair and began talking again in a more reasonable tone. "That's fine, If there's anything we need to split up for I can pair him with someone who has one." He stopped and looked over at Vincent. "Wait, what happened to you're PHS?"

"I let you borrow it and you broke it." Vincent replied evenly.

"Oh, yeah," Cloud replied, a little sheepishly. "Guess I forgot. That was a month ago, right?"

Vincent nodded.

"Remind me to buy you a new one later, okay?" Cloud scratched his spiky blond hair, more than a little chagrined.

Again, a nod from Vincent.

Cloud sighed. "Alright, let's go."

A/N: WTF? The opening was intentionally light, I admit, but….It was supposed to go back to the original mood of the past chapters after that. *Shrug* Oh, well, I hope someone enjoyed reading this. *Bangs head on wall* Next chapter will be up as soon as I write it. Bye. *Faints*


	4. Inside The Plate

Note : Some of you may have notice that the title to chapter one is 'Hard Day's Night'. It's an old Beatles song, which means it's owned by…Michael Jackson?!.… At least that's what someone told me, any ways. It's all covered in the Prologue, so read it before you sue.

Forced Evolution:

Inside The Plate 

Enveloped in the too bright light of still burning flares, listening to the monotonous hissing that these light sources produced, Cloud winced as his eyes adjusted. Behind him, the sleep deprived Cid and Yuffie colorfully protested the abrupt change in lighting as they made their entrance. 

Gray flooring and walls lent the interior of this building the air of a garage, or perhaps an empty warehouse. Whatever it may have once served as, there was no way to tell now; the crew that had cleaned out the building had been thorough. Only the large, lopsided pile of rubble in the northwest corner served as decoration. 

It also had a definite echo, Cloud noticed, as Vincent's light footfalls reverberated around them. That wasn't very important at the moment, however, considering the fact that Vincent had just broken rank; an action that he was not in the habit of performing. "Vincent, what are you doing?"

Apparently ignoring Cloud and the others at the moment, Vincent continued, stopping a few feet to the left of the heap, before a dark, square shaped hole in the ground. He looked down and scuffed his boots across the floor in front of him. "Shinra."

"What?" Cloud asked, frowning as Nanaki also broke rank, padding to Vincent's side. 

The former Turk did not reply. Instead he kneeled down, onto the dust covered floor, his clawed hand resting on his knee and his human hand brushing the ground before him.

" Shinra-04-012L." Nanaki read aloud for the benefit of the others as he stopped beside his kneeling comrade, watching him. "Do you know what this means, Vincent?" 

Vincent was silent, looking back towards the others disinterestedly, which they had come to know as his way of signaling that it was safe to approach. Once surrounded by his companions, he began. "In my time, the plates of Midgar had yet to be built…. But they were planning them. Shinra needed space for some of their more… involved… experiments…."

"So they decided that they would put hidden labs inside the plates?" Cloud asked, surprised. After all, the morose man before them had not just given what amounted to a speech considering how quiet he was, but had also revealed a little something about himself, miniscule as it was. "So there's a lab down there?" He asked, fishing a flashlight out of one of his pockets. 

Tifa was quicker than him however, and a cone of artificial light illuminated the darkness, revealing a long stairway that disappeared into shadow. "Where are the bodies that your men found, Red?"

Cloud turned, as though suddenly noticing the distinct lack of cadavers in the vicinity. 

"Aw, who gives a flyin'-" Cid began, only to be cut off by Nanaki.

"Those easily reached have already been collected." The canine/feline-like creature supplied, flashing Cid a warning look as he did so. "By people with enough sense to feel compassion for the dead."

Cid scowled at the four legged creature before him, despite the fact that Nanaki's attention now seemed to be elsewhere. "Shit. Hey, I didn't-"

"Guys," Yuffie rubbed her eyes, whipping the sleep from them. "Shouldn't we be following Vinnie and Tifa?"

"Huh?" Cloud turned back from the now one-sided exchange, to find Nanaki standing on the steps, observing the happenings below. Further down, illuminated by the backsplash of her flashlight was Tifa, only the top of her head visible due to the stairway's sharp decline. He couldn't see Vincent. "Tifa, where is he?" 

"He's down at the bottom," she called, looking up towards the rest of Avalanche briefly before turning back around. "I think it's safe; he hasn't told me to go back yet."

Cloud sighed and nodded his head, which Nanaki took as a signal to follow his wayward peers. Looking over his shoulder to find Cid and Yuffie both staring at him with sleepy disinterest, he frowned. "Alright, let's go."

-------

"Hey," Karae greeted, coming upon a lone teenage boy with sandy blond hair, "you're Jeremy, right?" 

The kid jumped slightly, apparently not used to being singled out. "Uh, yeah."

"Do you recognize me?" 

Jeremy thought for a moment. "Yeah, you that freak's partner, right?"

"No, I'm Vincent's co-leader," she corrected, suddenly remembering why she hated most teenagers with a fiery passion. "Name's Karae."

"Yeah."

"Yeah," she mimicked. "Look, does Nanaki have a bullhorn or something around here?"

He was looked at her strangely. "Why?"

'Goddamn little shit,' she thought. "Because I would like to use one, if there are any around." Karae explained, trying not to smack the boy upside the head.

"Nah, there aren't any 'round here," he answered, smiling. "Why would there be; Nanaki can't use 'em."

"Well," she said, beginning to lose her patience, "you could hold it for him."

A blank stare and an indifferent shrug was his reply.

"Okay…." Karae sighed, forcing herself to look away from the boy. "I need you to go around, tell everyone to go back to base, and inform first shift that they're off duty until further notice." She paused for a moment. "When they wake up, I mean."

He just stood there, staring at her profile.

"Now!" She yelled, face turning red in anger.

Startled, Jeremy ran off. Hopefully he would remember to complete his assignment. If he didn't, Karae mused, his ass might soon become decorated with the tread of her boots.

------

The artificial beams of light emanating from the flashlights carried by Tifa, Cloud, and Yuffie revealed little as they cut through the pervasive darkness inside the tunnel. It was too dark here for either Nanaki or Vincent to see on their own, forcing them to stay within speaking range of the rest of Avalanche, something Cloud was grateful for. Occasionally however, Nanaki would wander off, following his superior sense of smell, only to return with the news of a freshly discovered body.

"Let me guess, ya found another one." Cid predicted as Nanaki once again returned to the group, his claws ticking against the metal floor.

Nanaki shook his head, the beads braided into his mane clacking together softly. "This hall branches off shortly into three rooms further up. They have electricity."

"Uh-Uh. No way. We turned all the reactors off, remember?" Yuffie protested, the beam from the flashlight she held falling into the faces of Tifa and Vincent, causing them both to wince.

"Yuffie, be careful with that thing!" Tifa exclaimed, shielding her eyes with her free hand.

Cid snorted. "Ever hear of a backup generator, brat?"

Yuffie ignored him, still focused on Nanaki. "How can you tell, anyways. I mean, are there lights on or something?"

"No, there is…." Nanaki paused, wandering how to describe the sounds of flowing electricity to the teenager. "There is a buzzing sound emanating from the walls. It's rather hard to describe."

"Well, let's get moving," Cloud commanded. "The sooner this is over, the sooner you two can go back to bed." He directed at Cid and Yuffie, trying to cut off any further arguments. 

"Promise?" Yuffie asked suspiciously.

Cloud sighed. "Yes, I promise."

"Really, truly, honestly--"

"Yuffie, leave the fuckin' man alone 'fore he changes his mind!" Cid hollered, already following the trio of Nanaki, Tifa, and Vincent further into the tunnel.

"Shut up, Ci--" Yuffie halted in mid-yell as she noticed the others walking away. "Hey, wait for us!"

"I should have stayed in bed," Cloud muttered, following the now sprinting Yuffie at a more sedate pace.

-------

"Are you Karae?"

She turned to look at the man who had so rudely interrupted the conversation she was having with yet another group of workers. A few inches taller than her, with a muscular build, a flat face, brown eyes, and balding, sandy blond hair. All in all, she had a fairly good idea who he was. "You're Jeremy's dad." A statement, not a question. The man had the same look on his face that her father wore whenever he felt that she had been unfairly treated.

"Yeah," he confirmed, and Karae suddenly realized where Jeremy had picked up his annoying habit. "Just wonderin' why you felt the need to embarrass my son like you did."

"Sir--"

"He's a sensitive boy."

"Let me fini--"

"You don't know him, and you're a kid yourself so--"

"Sir, please. Be quiet." She watched him for a moment, feeling the several members of the group behind her shift nervously. "Now, will you please let me finish my sentences before responding?" 

"Yeah."

"Alright. First off, I had no idea that I had embarrassed you son. I had given him an order to which he failed to respond to, so yes, I snapped at him. I'll apologize later, if you feel I need to."

"Yeah, okay."

"Secondly, you're son isn't as sensitive to others as he himself is, considering that he insulted not only my co-leader-- but your own as well-- to my face."

Jeremy's father frowned darkly. "Yeah, he did that?"

"Yes, he did. My third point is that while I do admit to being young, I am at least eight years older than your son, who doesn't look to be a day over sixteen."

"Yeah, he's fifteen."

"Alright then, nine years. Final point: Even if I wasn't a legal adult, I am still his superior, and I along with the other team leaders expect to be treated with some measure of respect. Your son failed to give that respect to not one, but three of us; and all within the space of five minutes. Now, are we clear?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think I should apologize?"

"No, ma'am."

------ 

True to Nanaki's word, the hallway did divide into three separate corridors. Instead of splitting the group up into pairs of two like he normally would have, Cloud decided to keep everyone together, as he didn't think he could handle anymore of Yuffie's whining at the moment. In her current mood, Yuffie would have complained no matter who she was paired with. Going from left to right, they had found the first two doors were electronically locked. Now the six members of Avalanche stood before the third door; which was thankfully equipped with nothing more than an average doorknob.

Cid snorted. "Watch. It's gonna be a fuckin' maintenance closet. Just watch." 

"If we have to bust these doors down, I'm gonna puke." Yuffie sulked, leaning against Tifa as she tried to stay awake.

Cloud smiled in relief as the door before him opened. Listening to Yuffie's perpetually whining voice and Cid's nonstop negativity as they echoing through the halls had given him a headache; and the noise that they would have made breaking the metal doors down would have upgraded it to a migraine. "Don't worry, Yuffie. It's open."

"It's a closet, isn't it?" Cid grumbled, unable to see the door from behind Vincent.

"When's the last time you saw a closet that opened inwards?" Cloud asked rhetorically. He entered the room with his flashlight in hand, finding the room to be lightly illuminated by the soft glow from several computers. "Now…if I were a light switch, where would I be?"

"Perhaps by the door." Vincent muttered softly, flicking the switch beside Cloud as he entered. 

Cloud chuckled softly, turning off his flashlight. "Oh. Thanks, Vincent."

"So many computers," Tifa mused, inspecting each one individually. "I wonder what they were doing down he--" She stopped, staring at a particularly large computer monitor. "Cloud, come here."

"What is it, Tif?" He said, the rest of Avalanche following at a short distance behind.

"Do those…" she asked him as he drew near enough to view the screen before her, pointing at it for clarity. "Do those look like the containment units that where in the Mt. Nibel Reactor to you?" 


	5. Technical Difficulties

Forced Evolution:

Technical Difficulties 

Cloud stared. It was all he was capable of doing at the moment. Eventually, he found himself nodding, eyes still held by the image on the computer monitor. If the containment units on the screen before Tifa weren't the exact same models as the ones in the Mt. Nibel Reactor, then….

Then he didn't know what they were.

"Maybe Shinra had the experiment moved." Tifa postulated, her voice filled with guarded hope.

"They wouldn't bother themselves with that," Cloud stated, acutely aware of the fact that he was playing the roll of devil's advocate. "Nibelheim was under their control, and no ordinary traveler would go off the main pathways. Then there was the Materia Keeper. It would have frightened off or killed anyone that came too close to the Reactor."

From his spot beside Tifa, Cid cleared his throat, studying the computer before her. " You want me to take a look at it?"

Cloud nodded again and motioned for Tifa to move out of Cid's way. After all, Cid was the most technically inclined person in the Avalanche-- if you didn't count Reeve, who was in Junon dismantling the remaining traces of Shinra at the moment. 

"Eh, this one's just for security." Cid announced once he had sat down on a previously unnoticed stool. Once he had familiarized himself with the current program running on the computer, he set to work. The sound of clicking became omnipresent, and several view points of the previous room flashed upon the screen. " 'm not a computer geek, so if any type of password shit comes up here, we're screwed." 

Cloud had known that was coming. "Just see if you can disengage the locks on the other doors outside."

Cid grunted in frustration as the screen changed, asking for a password. "Now what?"

"Leave it blank," Vincent ordered from behind him. 

Cid cast a glance over his shoulder at Vincent before looking to Cloud for guidance.

Cloud, however, had turned his attention to Vincent, watching him from the corner of his eyes. "Why blank?"

"….Hojo was found of mind games."

Yuffie groaned. "Not this again…."

"While I do agree with that," Nanaki argued from his spot on the floor, "we do no know if this laboratory was under the departed scientist's care."

Shrugging, Cloud looked back to Cid. "Try it."

Cid scowled. "You sure, Spike?"

" It's all we have to go on."

"Fine." Cid mumbled. He cursed loudly in surprise when the password was accepted, and the computer began loading another menu. 

"How did you know that?" Tifa asked, looking over at Vincent's half covered face.

"I didn't."

"Oh."

Leaning on Tifa once more, Yuffie frowned. "You didn't think he'd give you a straight answer, did you?"

Tifa shrugged slightly, apparently disappointed.

"Alright, I disabled the security system. Now what?" Cid asked, as a faint humming noise emitted from the computer.

Cloud thought for a moment. "Are the doors unlocked?"

Cid nodded.

"See if you can find anything about that room we saw on the monitor."

-------

"Yeah, but I told five of 'em!" Jeremy protested. "I did what you told me to do!"

Karae's left eye twitched. If there had ever been any doubt as to whether or not she was ever going to have children, Jeremy had come along and within the space of one hour, forced her to come to a conclusion: Never. As a matter of fact, as soon as all the bodies were collected from Midgar and identified, she was going to have her tubes tied. "Kid, you told your father's group then sicked him on me. Out of the one hundred people here, you told five."

"Yeah, but --"

"No buts. Go find your Dad and get back to base. You're lucky I haven't kicked you're ass from here to Junon and back." 

------ 

Something was wrong with computer.

As soon as Cid had entered the main menu again, the images on the screen had begun morphing and folding in upon themselves, becoming impossible to decipher. Moments later the screen changed once more to the initial security feed, the same process beginning anew.

Tifa watched the strange happenings on the monitor before looking over at Cid. "What's happening?" 

"Virus." Both Cid and Yuffie explained together, their voices overlapping.

Everyone turned to stare at Yuffie in surprise.

She straightened a bit and stopped leaning on Tifa, looking offended. "What? I'm a teenager, we're into this stuff."

Cid gave a derogatory snort.

"Bet I know more about computers than you, old man." Yuffie sulked, glaring at him with tired brown eyes.

Cid opened his mouth to reply, a dead cigarette butt hanging dangerously from his lips.

"Knock it off, both of you." Cloud ordered, already knowing where this was going. "Is there anything we can do about it?"

"Naw, not really," Cid replied. "I can turn it off and hope the other's aren't affected, but that's it." He threw the cigarette butt to the ground and lit another, turning to look at Cloud as he did so. "S' a long shot, though. They're prob'ly all connected an' running off a network of some sort."

Cloud looked out towards the hallway, noticing for the first time that it was now faintly illuminated. "Will the security come back online?"

"It shouldn't," Cid shook his head for emphasis. 

"Alright," Cloud said as he studied the dim light beyond the door. "Turn it off." He turned back to the group, wondering if they had noticed change in the hallway also. "Has anyone else noticed that there are lights on in the hallway?"

"Yes," Nanaki blinked, surprised by the abrupt subject change. "They came on when the security system was shut down."

"Oh."

"Well," Cid began, the computer behind him finally shutting down, "now what?"

There wasn't much of a choice, as far as Cloud was concerned. He and the rest of the Avalanche members currently gathered could check the other computers to see if any of them were also infected with the virus, or they could explore the other two rooms now that they were unlocked. 

It was such an easy decision. 

Of course, his PHS would have to begin ringing just as he opened mouth to tell the others.

Cloud sighed and unhooked the communication device from his belt and answered. "Hello?"

"I'm done here." 

It took a moment for him to realize that the voice on the other end was Karae, the static was so bad. "So there weren't any problems?"

"No," Karae's voice was tinged with momentary aggravation. "Not really. I told most of them to tell first shift that they're off duty until further notice."

"Why?" Cloud asked, then mouthed Karae's name to the others so they wouldn't ask him who he was talking too.

Cid rolled his eyes. It wasn't too hard to figure out who it was on the other end; especially when you considered the fact that Karae had told them that she would call once her assignment was complete.

"Cloud, it's more than half past six. Your men come in at seven, and you're still hanging out underground. What am I supposed to do; cover for both you and Tifa at the same time?"

He checked his watch and raised both of his eyebrows at the time. "Sorry. My fault."

"No problem." She was silent for a moment. "Look, I'm gonna head back, unless you want me to join the party you've got going down there."

Cloud thought for a moment, looking at Yuffie from the corner of his eye. 

On one hand, Cloud knew next to nothing about Karae personally; only what he had learned by talking to Tifa, Vincent, and Nanaki, who all seemed to have a somewhat friendly working relationship with her. On the other hand, Yuffie still looked like she would fall asleep again at any moment, while Cid seemed to have finally woken up.

"Cloud, you there?"

"Yeah, come on down. Just follow the hallway past the steps, you'll see us." 

She paused, as though surprised by his answer."…Okay, just give me a couple minutes." 

"That's fi--" He halted mid sentence as he heard Karae's PHS disconnect. Blinking, he looked down at the red canine/feline creature beside him. "Does she always hang up on people like that?" 

Nanaki grinned. "It's something of a habit of hers, actually."

"She told me one time that she doesn't like to talk to people on the PHS. Something about it makes her feel awkward," Tifa smiled, somewhat amused by the situation. "It had to do with not seeing the person's face, I think."

"Right." Cloud nodded, looking at Yuffie, who was once again leaning on Tifa. "You can go back to your tent if you want, Yuffie."

Still standing in front of the computers, Cid mumbled something to himself. Whatever it was, Cloud supposed that he should be glad that he couldn't make it out, especially considering the looks that both Nanaki and Vincent directed towards the gruff pilot. 

"Really?" Yuffie asked, managing to sound even sleepier than before.

Cloud sighed, hoping that this wasn't going to be a repeat of what had happened in the hallway almost an hour ago. "Yes, really." 

With surprisingly little noise, Yuffie straightened and headed for the door.

-----

It was dark inside the building that housed the entrance to the underground lab.

Standing just inside the threshold, Karae stood, flashlight in hand, examining the room carefully as if searching for a monster in the shadows. Several dead flares littered the corners of the large room, their colorful outer wrapping a stark contrast to the gray walls and floor. The large pile of rubble in the northwest corner shift suddenly, bits of cement clicking sharply against an equally hard floor. One particularly large piece found a resting spot beside her foot, and she kicked it, feeling like a character in one of those silly Armageddon movies. 

She could have been one, too. Meteor had been hanging in the sky less than three months ago, after all. 

"Shut up." She muttered to herself. "Just go, get over there, move it. The damn thing isn't going to collapse the second you walk in. Nobody's gonna die, everything's okay." 

Forcing herself to move forward, she finally reached the opening to the stairwell, all the while repeating a song that her mother had sung to her in her childhood, trying to drown out her disturbing thoughts. For the most part, the stairs below her were equally as dark as the room below her, except for the bottom, which seemed strangely illuminated. 'Did they have flares with them? No, it's not bright enough….Can't be electricity down there, though….' 

Careful not to misjudge her steps on the steeply declining stairs, Karae slowly made her way to the tunnel below.

A/N: Yes, yes, I know the tempo is a very slow right now. Sorry about that. This was originally written down in script format, so I'm largely working off of that; which is why these past two chapters have been so heavy in the conversation department. Expect the story to pick up a bit shortly, perhaps after the next two chapters or so. Remember, both Cid and Yuffie are functioning on roughly three hours of sleep, so if they(*cough* Yuffie *cough*) seem OOC it's largely due to that. You can berate me about the others if you want, however. Oh, and for those of you who read the A/N/N in chapter two and were a little disturbed by the Vincent/OC pairing discussed therein, don't worry, it's not going to happen. *listens to Mel crying in the background* Later!


End file.
